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Low-Maintenance Landscaping: Ditch the Lawn for Easy-Care Beauty

Rethink the traditional lawn for a low-upkeep landscape. Give away the mower and forget reseeding, watering, dethatching, and endless yard work. Trade thirsty turf for an appealing, easy-care alternative.

"Low-upkeep" and "lawn" rarely belong in the same sentence. The perfect green carpet demands hours of seeding, fertilizing, watering, weeding, mowing, dethatching, and aerating. Who needs the hassle?

More homeowners are embracing low-care lawns. Across the water-scarce West, drought-tolerant native groundcovers, flowers, shrubs, and trees replace thirsty turfgrass. This approach — xeriscaping — works anywhere for an attractive, eco-friendly landscape.

Use a stone-bordered raised bed for tidy plantings; learn how to install one here.

Wildflowers add color with minimal care. Though native plants largely fend for themselves, site prep and occasional maintenance are needed. Tips from landscape designer Steven Williams and architect Charles Seha:

1. Consult local experts. Nurseries, extension services, or native-plant societies help choose plants for your desired effect: xeriscape, wildflower meadow, or prairie mix.

2. Ensure good drainage. Grade slightly away from the house. Incorporate 2 inches of compost and shredded leaves or bark.

3. Remove existing lawn. Rototill until it disintegrates. Many recommend glyphosate (RoundUp) to prevent aggressive turf regrowth.

4. Diversify. Mix shrubs, small trees, edibles, and large rocks for a mature, easy-care display that attracts wildlife.

5. Mulch to suppress weeds, preserve moisture, and build soil. Apply 1–2 inches of compost, shredded leaves, or bark in early summer and late fall.

6. Water minimally. New plantings need regular water for two years. Use soaker hoses. Water once or twice weekly in heat; water when soil feels dry.

7. Enrich soil. In late spring/early summer, scratch in 1–2 inches of compost and rotted manure, or apply balanced slow-release organic fertilizer.

8. Start small. Not ready to go all-in? Replace part of the lawn with xeriscape plantings, or overseed with wildflower/herbal lawn mix. Aerate in spring, backfill with compost, seed per package, repeat next spring.